Rolling mill



Patented Bec. lig, T923.

` NETE@ STATES MTZM@ PATENT @FFTCEO FREDRIK WILLE, OF WARREN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE TRUMBULL STEEL COMPANY, 0F WARREN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

ROLLING MILL.

Application filed February 28, 1922.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, yFnnDRiK VviLLE, residing at 'Varren, in the county of Trumbull and State of Ohio, a citizen of the United States.l have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Rolling Mills, of which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rolling mills and particularly mills for rolling small sections of great and indefinite length, such as rods and strips. The invention lies in organization such as makes for economy in mill lay out, economy in operation, and speed of production.

In the accompanying drawing I show in plan and diagrammatieally a hot strip jobbing mill in which my invention is found. The invention, it will be understood, is not limited in it applicability to mills of this particular kind or class. The showing is in this respect exemplary.

The word mill is in this art used with different grades of meaning; the whole organized mechanical unit, whereby a billet is rolled to a strip is called a mill; again parts of this unit are specially designated, as

roughing mill and finishing mill; yet again,-

a single stand of rolls is, in the abstract sense, and'often in concrete use of language, a mill. I shall use the word mill withoutqualification' in the first and general sense only.

The mill here shown includes a billet heating furnace 1, a roughing mill 2, and finish ing mills 3, 4, ad 5. The invention lies not in the particular construction of roughing mill or of finishing mill or of their parts; it lies in the organizationof a plurality of finishing mills of diverse character with one roughing mill, and in a correlated elab oration in the construction of the heating furnace, whereby the mill as a whole is rendered elast-ic, to roll a wide variety of shapes, and at the same time its output as a jobbing mill is greatly increased.

The heating furnace 1 is double. The effect is that of two furnace parts set end to end, with intake at their-remote ends and pushout in the middle,-that is to say, at the meeting line of the two furnace parts. From a billet storage platform 11 two charging skids 12 lead oppositely to two charging conveyors 13. In the line of the Serial No. 539,832.

conveyors shears 14 may be arranged, beyond which shears the conveyed material reaches pushers 15, one of which stands opposite each of the two ends of the heating furnace 1. The pushout is indicated at 16. This double construction of heating furnace of course doubles the capacity of this part of the mill. Twice as much material may be prepared in a given time for rolling as with a single heating furnace. And this increased capacity is gainediwith incidental economies. For example, one man can tend the pushout and deliver a double quantity. If there were two separate and independent heating furnaces there would have to be two attendants to do the same work.

The roughing mill 2 is in no respect unusual;` As shown, it consists of two sets of rollstands. The second set in the course of progress of material under treatment is sometimes called the intermediate mill, to

`distinguish it from the first set of roll stands, to which the name rou hing mill is then more narrowly confined. (Tf the roughing mill (used in application collectively to these two sets of roll stands shown) it suffices to say that if the three finishing mills presently to be described werevorganized, each with its own roughing mill, the roughing mills would be substantially identical. The single mill 2 is then a mill suitable to serve any one of the three finishing mills.

rI`he finishing mills, of which as has been said and as the drawing shows there is a plurality, include mills of two types: a continuous mill 3, and in this case two looping mills, 4 and 5. Speaking abstractly, the continuous mill occupying but little space and operating automatically produces material at great speed; it is, however, best suited to the production of material of relatively heavy section. The looping mill is best suited to the production of lighter material.

The continuous mill here shown. istypical; its rolls are conveniently driven from a single motor, as indicated. Associatedwith it are conveniently arranged a runout table 31, a mechanical cooling bed 32, a shear table 33, a shear 34, and a. cradle for receiving the sheared lengths of cold material.

The two finishing mills 4 and 5 are essentially alike, consisting each of a` plurality of roll stands. Associated with each finishing mill are runout ltables 41, 42, 51, 52,

stands.

and straightening beds 43, 53, shears 44, 54, and reels 45, 55. The shears and the reels, it will be understood, are movable, and may be shifted to any point desired across the ends of bedsi 43, 53, and the reels may be duplicated at opposite ends of the beds, as indicated at 44, 54a.

The number of roll Stands making u the two looping mills are, as shown, di ferent, and by such provision the two mills may, if desired, be adapted for the production of material of different degreesof iineness. The mills may be so arranged that either all or part of their roll stands may be involved in a given operation. To this end, runout tables 42, 52 lead from intermediate roll passes, while tables 41, 51, lead from the ultimate passes of the two mills. The ultimate roll stand 46, 56 of each of the two finishing millsis here' shown to be driven by its own motor, separate from the motorwhich drives the rolls of the other This is a feature whose lbenefits and advantagesl are dwelt upon at length .inthe application of Henry Gr. OBrlen, of United StatesLetters Patent, iled September 4, 1919, Serial No. 321,660. Suffice it here to say that these features,-diversity between the two looping mills in the7 number of roll stands, the possibility of using part only of the roll stands of either mill, and the separate drive of the rolls of 'the ultimate roll stand-all make for adaptability and flexibility of the mill as a whole to produce material to any specificationsuch of- 1fioul-se being the desideratum of a jobbing mi The invention lies in the wembly with one roughing mill, of, i'irst,'the pluralitv and diversity of finishing mills describedl and, incidentally-to that (and as a matter of substantive invention as well), a billet heating furnace of the arrangement and organization described. The gains and ad vantages of the invention are, first, the relatively great service got out 'of the roughing mill, and the consequent economy; the adaptability of the mill to a wider' range of product than any simpler organization can produce; the possibility of making repair and replacement on one iinishing mill while operation on others continues, thus avoiding the undesirable idleness 'of one part, though itself in condition for service, incidentally to repair work done on another and associated part. That is to say, any portion of the three finishing mills shown may be put temporarily out of commission while they other portion remains in commission. This means of course capacity for high production.

I claim as my invention:

1. A rollingl mill yassembly including a single roughing mill, a heating furnace provi-ded with a lurality of charging intakes and a. sing e push-out and adapted to deliver heated billets to the roughing mill, and a plurality of nishing mills adapted to be served by the rouighing mill.

2. A rolling-mill aembly including av 'single roughing mill 1n operative combination with a plurali-t of finishing mills, one of said finishing mills being a looping mill, separate means for driving the rolls of the ultimate pass of the looping mill, means for conveying away the material from such ultimate pass of the looping mill, and means for conveying away the material from a pass of the looping mill anterior to the ultimate.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. y

, FREDRIK WILLE.

l Witnesses: v

' JOHN W. HUGHES,

B. E. DART. 

